Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/187

Rh ANDOCIDES. mutilateil the Ilennae. It appeared tlic more likfly that AnJocides was an accomplice in the latter of these crimes, which was believed to be a preliminary step towards overthrowing the demo- cratical constitution, since the llenues standing close to his house in the phylc Aegeis was among the very few which had not been injured. (Plut. //. a: ; Nepos, Alcif). .'5 ; Sluiter, Lee. Andoc. c. 3.) Andocidcs was accordingly seized and thrown into prison, but after some time recovered his liberty by a promise that he would reveal the names of the real perpetrators of the crime ; and on the sug- gestion of one Charmides or Timaeus {de Myst. § 4{> ; Plut. Alcib. l. c), he mentioned four, all of whom were put to death. lie is said to have also denounced his own father, but to have rescued him again in the hour of danger. But as Ando- cides was unable to clear himself from the charge, he was deprived of his rights as a citizen, and left Athens. (Z)<? Red. § 25.) He now travelled about in various parts of Greece, and was chiefly engaged in commercial enterprises and in fomiing con- rexions with powerful and illustrious persons. {De Myst. § 137; Lys. c. A7idoc. § G.) The means he employed to gain the friendship of powerful men were sometimes of the most disreputable kind ; among which a service he rendered to a prince in Cyprus is particularly mentioned. (Com p. Plut. I.e.; Phot. liihl. p. 488, ed. Bekker; Tzetz. Chil. vi. 373, &c.) In B. c. 411, Andocides returned to Athens on the establishment of the oligarchical government of the Four Hundred, hoping that a certain service he had rendered the Athenian ships at Saraos w^ould secure him a welcome reception. {De Red. §§ 11, 12.) But no sooner were the oligarchs informed of the return of Andocides, than their leader Peisander had him seized, and accused him of having supported the party opposed to them at Samos. During his trial, Andocides, who per- ceived the exasperation prevailing against him, leaped to the altar which stood in the court, and there assumed the attitude of a suppliant. This saved his life, but he was imprisoned. Soon after- wards, however, he was set free, or escaped from prison. {De Red. § 15 ; Plut. l. c; Lysias. c. An- doc. § 29.) Andocides now went to Cyprus, where for a time he enjoyed the friendship of Evagoras ; but, by some circumstance or other, he exasperated his friend, and was consigned to prison. Here again he escaped, and after the victory of the democra- tical party at Athens and the abolition of the Four Hundred, he ventured once more to return to Athens ; but as he was still suft'ering under the sentence of civil disfranchisement, he endeavoured by means of bribes to persuade the prytanes to allow him to attend the assembly of the people. The latter, however, expelled him from the city. (Lys. c. Andoc. § 29.) It was on this occasion, B. c. 411, tiiat Andocides delivered the speech still extant "on his Return" (wepl rrjs iavrov KadoSov), in which he petitioned for permission to reside at Athens, but in vain. In this his third exile, An- docides went to reside in Elis (Plut. Vit. X. Orat. p. 835, a.; Phot. /. r.), and during the time of his absence from his native city, his house there was occupied by Cleophon, a manufacturer of lyres, who had placed himself at the head of the demo- cratical })arty. {De Myst. § 146.) Andocides remained in exile till the year B. c. 403, after the overthrow of the tyranny of the ANDOCIDES. 1C9 Thirty by Thrasybulus, when the general amnesty- then proclaimed made him hope that its benefit would be extended to him also. He himself sayg {de Myst. § 132), that he returned to Athens from Cyprus, from which we may infer, that although he was settled in Elis, he had gone from thence to Cyprus for commercial or other purposes ; for it appears that he had become reconciled to tho princes of that island, as he had great influence and considerable landed property there. {De Red. § 20, De Afyst. § 4.) In consequence of the ge- neral amnesty, he was allowed to remain at Athens, enjoyed peace for the next three years, and soon recovered an influential position. According to Lysias {c. Anduc. § 33, comp. § 11), it was scarcely ten days after his return that he brought an accu- sation against Archippus or Aristippus, which, however, he dropped on receiving a sum of money. During this period Andocides became a member of the senate, in which he appears to have pos- sessed great influence, as well as in the popular assembly." He was gymnasiarch at the Hephae- staea, was sent as architheorus to the Isthmian and Olympic games, and was at last even en- trusted with the office of keeper of the sacred treasury. But these distinctions appear to have excited the envy and hatred of his former ene- mies ; for in the year B. c. 400, Callias, supported by Cephisius, Agyrrhius, Meletus, and Epichares, urged the necessitj^ of preventing Andocides from attending the assembly, as ho had never been formally freed from the civil disfranchisement. But as Callias had but little hope in this case, he brought against him the charge of having profaned the mysteries and violated the laws respecting the temple at Eleusis. (Z>e il^s^. § 110, &c.) The orator pleaded his case in the oration still extant, "on the Mysteries" {Trepi twu /jLvcTTqpiwv), and was acquitted. After this attempt to crush him, he again enjoyed peace and occupied his former posi- tion in the republic for upwards of six years, at the end of which, in B. c. 394, he was sent as ambas- sador to Sparta respecting the peace to be con- cluded in consequence of Conon's victory off Cni- dus. On his return he was accused of illegal con- duct during his embassy {TrapaTrp(c§eias). The speech " On the peace with Lacedaemon" (Trepl rijs TTpus AaKedaifjLov^ovs ctpTjvTjs), which is still extant, refers to this affair. It was spoken in B. c. 393. (Clinton places it in 391.) Andocides was found guilty, and sent into exile for the fourth time. He never returned afterwards, and seems to have died soon after this blow. Andocides appears to have left no issue, since at the age of seventy he had no children {de Myst. §§146, 148), though the scholiast on Aristophanes ( l^esp. 1262) mentions Antiphon as a son of An- docides. This was probably owing to his wander- ing and unsteady life, as well as to his dissolute character. {De Myst. § 100.) The large fortune which he had inherited from his fiither, or acquired in his commercial undertakings, was greatly dimi- nished in the latter years of his life. {De Myst. § 144 ; Lys. c. Andoc. § 31.) Andocides has no claims to the esteem of posterity, either as a man or as a citizen. Besides the three orations already mentioned, which are undoubtedly genuine, there is a fourth against Alcibiades (/carci 'AAK»§taSou), said to have been delivered by Andocides in B. c. 415; but it is in all probability spurious, though it appears to contain genuine historical matter.